I Want it All! And I pretty much have it

What a strange week this has been. My day job was weird, but I'm not here to talk about that. A while back I put up a review of IK Multimedia's Amplitube. In that I mentioned to pay attention to their social media feed. Late last week they put up a contest asking for a video of your best riff and to tag them. I thought about it for a few moments but I new quickly what I wanted to do.

I sat down Sunday with the idea to use an old riff I've had for a while but to push myself into doing something different with the video. So I setup Amplitube on my computer and then set up my phone and iPad to film it. Then I put it all on my wife's Macbook and synced all three in imovie. I cut off front and end of the clip and...

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@ikmultimedia wants to hear your riffs! And you could win amplitube max. I’m using @orangeamplifiers rockerverb amplitube on this downtuned riff I’ve been working on for #doubleshotunion #dsu #jointheunion #heavyriffs #guitar #guitarlife #guitarist

A post shared by @ adhd_guitarist on Nov 25, 2018 at 12:05pm PST

I've had this down tuned riff and most of the song worked out for a while but I've never gotten the drums right on it. But there it is, I shared that video on instagram and then shared that to twitter.

BOOM. Tuesday night I got home from work to find a message on twitter telling me I had WON a copy of Amplitube MAX!!!!!

So now I have pretty much everything in Amplitube. All of the Engl, Dr Z, Marshalls, Mesa Boogies, Oranges and most of the Fenders and Ampegs. Wow. One thing I've noticed is that you can sit there for hours clicking through presets playing the same riff over and over again. haha. It's great, but also I can see where it can be Option Overload. haha. Still I'm pretty grateful to the team over at IK Multimedia, you guys made my Christmas that much better.

EVH 5150 LBX Review

Eddie Van Halen! The name is synonymous with great rock tone. Other than maybe David Gilmour and Jimi Hendrix, Eddies tone has been talked about and studied probably more than any other guitarist in history. It's a huge massive guitar sound that is larger than life and the EVH 5150 amps are currently some of the most popular amps in the world. Eighties shredders love these amps of course, but a lot of modern high gain users love them and I've been noticing them on a lot of country players stages as well.

A little history on the 5150 amps for those that don't know. We all have heard the story about Eddie's famous Marshall and using the variac. In the mid 80's Eddie started using a Soldano SLO100 live and in the studio. He really like the sound of both the Soldano and the Marshall. No one really knows what happened behind the scenes but Eddie struck a deal with Peavey to build his new signature amp the 5150. It was so close to the Soldano design that Mike Soldano started to sue Peavey and Eddie but Peavey is a huge corporation with loads of cash and lawyers and Mikes lawyers told him to drop it or be buried in debt. Eddie and Peavey then revised the amp for the 5150 ii. When Peavey's quality control left something to be desired Eddie left and struck a deal with Fender and the EVH brand was born. The EVH 5150 III has already gone through quite a few tweaks since it's introduction. There is a 100 watt USA built three channel version, the stealth version (which adds the resonance knob) the new el34 version, an extremely successful 50 watt "mini" head and combo (which adds power scaling) and now two LBX versions.

15 watt "lunchbox" amps have become huge thing in our industry promising great tube tone at lower volumes for at home playing and gigs that are volume sensitive. The LBX packs a ton of features into a small package for someone who may want flexibility in an amp but not need 100 watts of power and three independent channels. The LBX features include an effects loop, switchable 4/8/16 ohms to match the cabinet, presence and resonance knobs (bright and bottom end), along with a 1/4 power switch. All at a fraction of the price.

A friend of mine has the 50w EVH 5150 and its a shockingly versatile amp. So when I saw a great deal on a new LBX popup I couldn't resit. This too has also proven to be a surprisingly versatile piece of gear. While there are two channels, you don't have separate volume control over them and so there can be a volume mismatch. Really while being very versatile you are looking at setting up a single sound to play through but it's a damn nice sound. The Blue channel will be more than enough gain for most people but Red channel is like liquid molten lava gain and can be addictive. It is a favorite of modern shredders everywhere. 

So lets answer some common questions

Is it loud enough to gig with? YES! Gig volume is the subject of some debate. But wattage is pretty simple. 10% is half the volume, so to get half of the volume of 100 watts you have jump down to 10 watts, for 50 watts you have to go down to 5 watts. There is also the question of speaker cabinets a 4x12 is louder than a 1x12 since your moving more air. At 15 watts into a 4x12 It won't be as loud as a 100 watt but it can get plenty loud enough on a 4x12 making it great for fly dates and small club gigs.

What about clean headroom? Headroom for those who don't know is how long the amp stays clean before it breaks up. I don't think you buy this amp for clean sounds, that being said if you want to play clean at low volumes this amp has a nice clean sound to use with pedals. But WHEN it breaks up is very dependent on the pickups. My Duncan APS2's break up before my EMG-SA's and a JB is obviously going to breakup before a vintage sounding PAF. If you need a dedicated clean tone check out the new LBXII which has a separate clean and dirty channels.

How well does it clean up with the guitar's volume knob? Well enough, again it depends on the pickup but at 12 o'clock on the blue channel (which in this amp is still a lot of gain) it cleans up just fine when you roll down the volume 

How does it sound at bedroom levels? Perfect, my place is not huge and is close to my neighbors. My wife can take a nap while I'm playing through a 2x12. It does sound better when turned up but you can practice quietly.

Great rock n roll tone now comes in Fun Size #5150 #5150iii #5150time #shredguitar

A post shared by @adhd_guitarist on Mar 3, 2017 at 12:11pm PST

How close does this get to the "brown sound"? A lot of Eddie's sound is in his hands, his pick attack and swing in his note placement. If you've got the chops you can use a lot of different equipment. Some people think of the "brown sound" as the first Van Halen album while others point to 1984. But to answer that question look at Pete Thorn's Eruption series on youtube. Damn that's close. Also if you throw in some delay and chorus in the loop it can easily cop the the tone from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

Does it Djent? Seriously? Are you asking me that? haha Well Misha Mansoor seems to think so. I do have one 6 string strung down to low B and the Red channel on the  LBX handles modern down tuned riffage with ease.

If you need a clean pedal platform to gig with this really isn't your amp. If your main sound is 80's or beyond high gain and you'd like something for lower volume and the occasional pick up jam you can't go wrong with the EVH LBX. And for the price of these a lot of people will pick one up just to have laying around. 

Fender Bassbreaker Review

The Fender Bassbreaker series was announced last year at the same time as the Jimi Hendrix Signature Stratocaster. There have been a lot of talk about them but I had not had the chance to play through one till a couple of days ago. I was out of town on vacation with my family, while they were having some down time I hit up a couple of local guitar shops. They had a Bassbreaker 45 2x12 combo and a Bassbreaker 7w mini stack. The guys there were more than happy to let me check them out but they warned me that the 45, even with the variable wattage control all the way down was insanely loud. So I checked out the 7 watt instead.  I've been into my strat lately so that's what I grabbed off the wall.

While on vaca I like to hit up local guitar shops. Found one of these new @fender bassbreakers. What a great amp. Nice vintage British tones, very touch sensitive. Would make a great pedal platform. #cocoabeach #tonetools #want1!

A photo posted by @adhd_guitarist on Jul 9, 2016 at 1:03pm PDT

The 7 watt might be the perfect bedroom plexi style amp. It has a "treble booster" built into which emphasizes the upper mids almost like a built in tube screamer. Compared to a Blues Jr it has more presence in the mids and an immediate attack from your guitar. Without the boost engaged and the mids rolled back it is similar to a hot twin that is not quite breaking up yet. Speaking of breaking up this amp breaks up really easy. With the booster on and the mids up I nailed the strat with my pick and got some nice vintage British grind. Switch to my fingers and it cleaned right up, roll back the volume and use the pick again it was clean and spanky. As a pedal platform this amp rules! You can run it clean or with a touch of crunch but it loves pedals and the more dynamic the better. I'm not a big reverb guy but I kind of wanted it on this amp, just a touch to take the edge off because the sound is fairly unforgiving similar to the way my old Mesa Stiletto was, which makes sense since they share a similar inspiration.

So how loud was it? At first sitting in front of the mini stack I almost felt bad for other people in the shop. In a bedroom it would sound very loud. But as soon as I stood up to change a couple of settings it was surprisingly quieter. I don't think anyone would be taking a nap in the house but if you needed to record something without the neighbors calling the cops this would work. It would work for coffee shop gigs and other gigs without a drummer. But for anything larger, the Bassbreaker 15w would probably be the way to go. The 15 w adds reverb, an effects loop and an adjustable gain switch, and the guys at the shop said they have been unable to keep those in stock. As long as your miked up it should work in most situations unless your drummer thinks he is Tommy Lee.

Aesthetically there have been some detractors because of the grey tweed. I don't mind that at all, it looks unique to other amps out there, but I wasn't crazy about the knobs which, in my own personal opinion look cheap. I do like the oversize feel of them which makes it easy to dial in settings. If I end up picking one up I might swap those for something like a chicken head knobs. Also, even though I thought it sounded surprisingly great, I wonder if a different cabinet or speakers might sound better. If your after a vintage voiced, British sounding amp do yourself a favor and check these amps out before Fender gets smart and ups the price.

ADHD Reviews: Playing the Fender Frankenstein copy

Back in 2007 or 2008 (I really don't remember which) Chip Ellis who worked for Fender Corp got permission from Eddie Van Halen to build a limited run exact replicas of Ed's famous Frankenstein. According to legend they wanted to build more but could only find the exact parts for 300 of them. That last part (only finding exact parts) has been disputed by various self proclaimed experts but we do know that they released 300 of these and only 180 were released in the USA.

even the case is cool

So imagine my surprise when, right after they announced it, an old friend of mine called to tell me he had one on order. This really surprised me because the ticket price on these were a whopping $25,000!!! This guy was a HUGE Eddie Van Halen fan so I knew owning this guitar was going to be very special for him. A few months later when it arrived he called to set up a time for me to drive up to his place and spend an evening checking it out.

dig the wiring in the center cavity

While he had checked it out he had boxed up the guitar so I could have the fun of opening the box. This of course added to the excitement of the whole thing. Every scar on this thing tells a story, and it looks like it's been dragged through battle. Burn marks from Ed's cigarettes, screw holes where he tried something and then moved it, areas where the paint has rubbed down... all tell stories.

Not gonna lie, I got a little giddy at this point!

The guitar plays well, but the action is not particularly low. The neck is super comfortable, I've gotten into fat necks the last ten years and prefer them to thin necks but the Frankie neck hits a sweet spot, not too thick for fans of thin necks but I certainly wouldn't call it a thin neck. Just very very comfortable.

 The pickup is fairly hot, I would describe it as a PAF on steroids. Similar to but not exactly like the current wolfgang pickups they are dropping in the EVH line.

a close up of the 1971 quarter

The scars of battle and the reflectors 

all of the these layers of paint are very smooth 

We had a great time that night, trading Van Halen riffs, drinking beer, swapping stories and catching up the way friends do. I'm not nearly the Van Halen player he is. I know a bunch of the licks but I've never worked on getting that swing down that Ed has. This guy has put the time in, and it shows. Some people are almost offended by limited run copies of famous guitars with exorbitant price tags. And while I wouldn't buy one I don't have a problem with people who do, or those companies who make them. I love that this guitar exist, it's as close as I will ever get to playing THAT guitar! If you've dedicated time in getting those licks perfected you can do them on most guitars. I remember this my friend playing a Les Paul through a solid state Marshall (a mosfet 100) with a tube screamer and sounding damn close to the Van Halen I tone. So him owning this guitar made sense to me. He's got the chops down perfect. He has since sold the Frankenstein guitar for a nice profit and of course he has picked up one of the new EVH striped guitars (the bumblebee).

Pete Thorn on Overdrives

If you don't know who Pete Thorn is look him up on youtube! He has a pretty impressive working resume, as well as being an exceptional guitar player. And his reviews always give me GAS! He posted this on the different types of Overdrives on his Facebook page. 

Someone asked me to quickly describe the differences between TS9 or 808 Tubscreamer pedals, Klon types, OCD, and Carl Martin Plexitone. Here's my response: TS-types- mid forward, softer, overdrive, some bass attenuation going on, nice for BF Fender amps (because Fenders have a mid-scooped tone and lots of treble and bass so it's a perfect contrast). Think Stevie Ray Vaughn. Klon- also an OD, but can almost act like a clean boost. Also mid forward but less so than a TS type, way more "neutral". Just very natural- a "more" pedal. Takes your core amp tone and just beefs it up, giving you "more" of it. OCD- kind of like an 18 watt Marshall grind, in a pedal. Nice amp-ish overdrive. Plexitone- really a distortion, a harder edged gain pedal, best into a neutral clean tone (a tone with not too much bass or treble a flat clean sound will work best) that's quite clean. Ample bass (certainly no bass cut), sizzly top- much like a real plexi or early metal panel Marshall!- Pete Thorn

This would pretty much sum up my experiences with these pedals as well. When I first started playing there were not near as many options of overdrives. And the Tube Screamer quickly found it's home on my board. I keep trying to get away from it but it just feels like coming home. 

Here is a review of my current favorite.  

Five Signature Guitars I would buy

Signature guitars are occupy an interesting space in our strange musical world. On one hand playing what your heroes play is kind of cool. On the other hand most of us get into music to express ourselves and to find our own voice. It used to be that signature gear didn't mean that the artist really played that guitar, that it was just a name and a paint job but these days most artist won't put out gear that they won't use.

EVH red stripe- One of my closest friends owns the black and white version and another one of my close friends owns the bumble bee, so I kind of have to get the red one don't I? There are several versions of this guitar but the red is my favorite, and I'm pretty sure I'd put some 5150 stickers on it. I really dig the wolfgangs too but if I had to choose I'd get one of these. I've read some mixed reviews but everyone of these I've played has been amazing.

Keith Merrow KM-7- If your into shred guitar and don't know who Keith Merrow is go to youtube right now and type in his name. Keith made a name for himself 1st playing along with his own music, then demoing gear on youtube and then making music with other shred heavy musicians. This guitar comes in 6 and 7 string versions and they have an extended scale making down tuned riffage pop a bit more. I really dig the Lambo Orange version of this guitar with the carbon fiber binding but that new green one with the sustainer looks pretty awesome too.

Zach Myers PRS- This is hands down the best looking PRS SE guitar in the line up. It looks like a custom shop model and the SE series are the best built budget models on the market. There are a few different versions but that Trampas green has a unique look to it and the satin finished neck feels great. Say what you will about Shinedown but they have carved out their own notch in a time period where many hard rock bands are struggling to stand out.

Jim Root Jazzmaster- All of the Jim Root models are pretty killer. These USA built guitars are straight forward hard rock machines. They aren't made to look pretty but somehow make me think of a killer built hot rod. I would love to get that flat black Jazzmaster and let a friend of mine do some pin striping on it. Check out more of Jims gear here.


Andy Timmons AT10- If you spend a moment looking around on my blog you'll know I'm a big fan of Andy Timmons. He always inspires me to to work on my craft and his signature guitar has much of the same features I've been looking for in my own guitars. The new White one with the Rosewood board is my current favorite. check out more of Andy's gear here.

The Story of David Gilmour's The Black Strat

Some instruments take on a life of their own and become legends in their own right. They have stories to them, which may or may not be 100% factual. It's important to remember that these instruments would not be so interesting if it had not been for the players playing them. I'm writing down some of these stories mostly for my own interest, and this is one such instrument.

David Gilmour's Black Fender Stratocaster
David picked up his now legendary Black Strat in May of 1970 from Manny's in New York City to replace another black strat that had been stolen a few weeks before. It was originally a 68 or 69 sunburst body that was painted black. It had a late 60's maple neck with a large headstock and 21 frets. It had a white pickguard and a 3-way pickup selector. It's the same guitar that was featured on Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii. In the film you can see it changes volume knobs from a strat to a tele knobs. 

David has experimented a lot with the guitar, changing knobs, pickups, and necks. In 1972 he tried to add an XLR input to help eliminate noise when using the Fuzz Face, apparently he wasn't happy with the results and they reversed the mod filling in and repainting the hole. Later that same year the neck was replaced with a 63 neck that had a rosewood fretboard, he used the rosewood fretboard for recording and touring for Dark Side of the Moon all the way up through 1978 when he recorded his first solo album. In 1973 he added a humbucker briefly between the bridge and middle pickup and also added the mini switch. After the humbucker was removed the mini switch was changed to turn on the bridge and neck pickups at the same time.

In 1974 the white pickguard was changed to the black single ply pickguard that we are now familiar with. The middle and neck pickups have remained the same but the bridge pickup was changed in 76 to a DiMarzio FS-1 and then changed to an over wound Seymour Duncan SSL1C ("C" for custom) which was later offered as a production model now known as the SSL5. 

In 1978 the rosewood neck was replaced by a Grover Jackson neck with a Fender logo, which was replaced again by a Charvel neck in 1982. During 1983 Floyd Rose and Kahler wammy's were becoming very popular due to guys like Eddie Van Halen and David decided to try having a Kahler wammy installed, which he used on the About Face album and tour. To do this a large chunk was taken out of the body and when the modification was reversed they had to fill it back in and paint over it. David then started using a shortened wammy bar and then switched from a 3-way switch to a 5-way. 

At this time vintage strat prices began rising and David had begun playing a red 57 reissue strat. So in 1986 The Black Strat was loaned to Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas, Texas through 1997. At the request of David the guitar was brought back, the neck was replaced again with a new 57 reissue neck, an orignial Fender bridge was put back in and the hole from the Kahler was filled and painted. 

In July of 2005 I was causally watching Live 8 and witnessed something I thought I would never see in my life time. All four members of the classic line up of Pink Floyd including Rodger Water stepped on to stage to perform. David and Rodger put aside their differences for the first time in 30 years to help raise money for a great cause. For me though, and many other guitar buffs, the icing on the cake was the return of The Black Strat which David has continued to use since. 

If you want to learn more about The Black Strat check out this amazing book by David's long time guitar tech Phil Taylor. And to learn more about David's gear on each album check out Gilmourish.com. 

Jim Root Gear Guide

ADHD's Gear Guides at any Budget. I'm a firm believer that the tone comes from the hands. If your trying to achieve a certain guitar hero's tone you have to not just have the chops but you've got to get down their style of attack with your picking hand as well. That said every step you take toward finding the right gear is often very inspiring and WILL get you closer to “that” sound. I'm going to break these down into Guitars, Pickups, Pedals and Amps.

Jim Root Gear Guide.

Jim Root is the epitome of rock n roll cool. Serving as the principle riff-mister in both Stone Sour and Slipknot his brutal down tuned riffs are powerful and memorable. His weapons of choice have changed over the years but we are going to focus on the last few years. Despite his use of complicated switching systems you can easily get his sound using a pretty straight forward setup. Jim has been using various Fender signature models, EMG pickups, and Orange amps for his straight up tone, and uses effects pedals to add flavors.

Guitars – Jim Root has been using Fender guitars for the last several years. He is the only artist with a signiture Telecaster, Stratocaster and a Jazzmaster. All three are setup mostly the same with Mahogany bodies, and maple necks. He prefers harder ebony and maple fretboards over rosewood. A single volume knob and a three way switch for the EMG 81/60 humbucker set.

Fender Jim Root Signature Telecaster- This was Jim's first production signature guitar. It comes in either a black or white flat nitrocellulose finish that beats up easily. The fretboard has a 12” radius not quite as flat as most modern shred guitars but still easy to get low action. The neck has a modern Fender C shape, again not as thin as a lot of modern shreders but not what I would call thick.

Fender Jim Root Stratocaster- A few years later, Fender put out a Stratocaster version of Jim's Telecaster. Other than the body shape, the only difference is a compound radius fretboard.

Fender Jim Root Jazzmaster – The most recent addition to the Jim Root line up is a signature Jazzmaster. Again featuring the compound radius it also uses a more durable polyurethane finish.

Squire Jim Root Telecaster- For a budget model the Squire Jim Root Telecaster is a well built guitar. It saves money by having a rosewood fretboard and covered passive pickups, but still includes the 12” radius fretboard. And you can always add the EMG's later.

Fender Blacktop Stratocaster – Another cool budget alternative, the Fender Blacktop series packs a lot of bang for the buck. Add in some extra springs on the wammy for more stable tuning and your in business.

A Tip on Strings- If you want to try out down tuned riffs slap a higher string gauge on your guitar. Rule of thumb is for every full step down, go up a gauge. If your used to 9's or 10's try 11's or 12's for Slipknots songs.

Pickups- Jim's choice of pickups hasn't changed much over the years. He likes the EMG 81/60 set that a lot of modern metal guys favor.

EMGJH James Hetfield Humbucker Set- The EMG JH set is an 81/60 combo that is aggressive. The 60 cleans up well while the 81 has a sound favored by Zakk Wylde, Kerry King and of course Jim Root.

SeymourDuncan JB/Jazz Set- EMG's have a particular sound and while Duncan's Blackouts also have that covered if you want a passive set that can be used for similar tones the Duncan Hotrod set does an excellent job of covering a lot of territory. This is the number one replacement pickup set in the world for a reason.

Pedals- Jim has a lot of gear, pedals and racks galore but his sound is pretty straight forward. He likes pedals to add flavor and likes to get most of his sound from his guitars and amps.

Dunlop Rotovibe – While neither a UniVibe or a Phaser, Jim has stated that he loves the Rotovibe in the studio but that it's not always practical for use in a Slipknot show.

EHX Small Stone Nano Phaser- Jim swaps this and an MXR Phase 90 on a regular basis. Either one works great, run it in front of your drive pedals for more of a vibe feel.

Digitech Envelope Filter Synth Wah- Jim loves Envelope Filters, often having three different ones for crazy sound effects. While most of the analog filters only cover certain sound the Digitech and do those and so much more.

MXR Carbon Copy- Most delays will work for the way Jim uses them but the versatile Carbon Copy has become a favorite of players everywhere. Unless you need a lot of different delay presets this pedal works great.

Maxon Overdrive OD-9 – The original TS9 pedal by the guys who made them originally. Great for punching up solos, cutting through the mix, or giving your passive pickups a hotter sound.

Wampler Triple Wreck – While Jim has used a Rectifier in the past he is more recently associated with Orange amps. I find I can get extremely close to his sound using this pedal running into a clean amp. Plus it's just so versatile.

Amps- Jim Root's live set up uses the Orange Rockerverb, but in the studio he has used everything including Mesa Rectifiers, Bogner's and Budda's. He also has a signature Orange Terror head that is voiced to sound like his Rockerverb.

OrangeRockerverb 100 – Available as a two channel head or combo this amp has an aggressive upper midrange that Orange amps are famous for. It's also available in a 100w or 50w.

Orange #4 Jim Root Signature Terror Head- voiced after Jim's trademark Rockerverb heads this signature head takes the Tiny Terror head platform to a whole new level. For a single channel head they are remarkably flexible, and sound killer. And while made for bedrooms and small clubs put it on top of a miked 4x12 cab and it can handle the job.

Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier- Used early in Jim's career these amps are very versatile, and can be found on stages around the world.

If you want to experiment with the Orange sound but your not sure if that's what you want check out IK Multimedia's Amplitube. They have a great model of the Rockerverb making dialing in those brutal sounds is easy.

Obviously there are a lot of alternatives out there but these are a great place to start your tone search. 

The Joyo JF-02 Ultimate Drive and the Great Clone Wars

Clones are not exactly a new thing in our industry. Almost every guitar manufacturer makes a strat copy. Supposedly Marshall was copying Fender's Baseman when he started building amps. And while some people have plenty of money to burn most of us don't mind saving a few bucks on something that delivers the same sound. Enter Joyo, Mooer, and a host of other pedal builders that copy, without hesitation, some of the more popular pedal designs. You have to decide for yourself if you would rather support original designs or the cheap knock offs and whether it is ethical or not but here is my review of the Joyo Ultimate Drive.

 Lets start with the look. It's ugly. It has some sort of devilish tribal tattoo looking graphic on a matte black finish that I'm sure appeals to a certain demographic. The controls are a Gain, Tone, Level and a high and low switch and of course a true bypass stomp switch. For the most part that's pretty self explanatory, the high/low switch changes the mid frequency that that is emphasized. There is a lot of gain on tap and it sounds more saturated than a lot of pedals, more like power amp distortion than preamp distortion in my opinion. There is also a lot of volume boost available in the Level knob, so if you want to use it to push the front of your amp or another pedal it's great for that. The Tone knob is a bit different than other pedals as well. It rolls of the high end but not the low. If you like a nice tight bottom end this may not work for you. And this brings us to the overall tone of the pedal. It's fairly transparent and reactive to the sounds your using. As I mentioned above it works great as a booster. It sounds beautiful in low gain big loose bottom end type sound. And it's very reactive to your pickups and volume knob. I love running a fuzz into it too, together they make a very powerful combination. Some people feel like they sound great in any combination, but when I hooked up to a friend of mines amps it sounded thin and kind of anemic. This goes to show it really doesn't work for everyone and while I like the pedal, it doesn't stay on my board.

 This brings me to something I hinted at at the beginning of the review. With very little digging around on the internet you'll find that this pedal is confirmed to be a copy of the Fulltone OCD which is hailed by many people as the best Overdrive out there. There is a video on YouTube where a guys compares the OCD to a Suhr Riot. In his demo the OCD and Riot sound very similar. They are NOT. The Riot has a tighter type of distortion and a very tight bottom end. The OCD is much looser and spongier sounding to my ears. Both work great for different sounds. After reading a lot of reviews and being a fan of Overdrives I was planning on buying a Fulltone OCD but now I'm glad I didn't. I decided that I would buy the Joyo. I figured as cheap as it was it would probably break at some point and if I liked it I could buy the Fulltone which are better built. I like the pedal but I as I stated earlier it doesn't stay on my board and I probably wouldn't replace it.

 When I do use it, I like using it in the low gain range, and using the level to boost the sound of my amp. The low setting seems a bit smoother to me but it really depends on which guitar and pickups I'm using. As I said earlier I also like using it with a Fuzz running into it, it's kind of tricky but if you get it set up right it sound very alive. If you get the chance to try one of these or and OCD and you like it, my personal thought is you should get the OCD. If you like overdrives and haven't gotten the chance to try one of these the price on the Joyo pedals make them disposable. You can get three or four different Joyo pedals for the price of the one OCD try them out and not feel bad for having something expensive sitting there for occasional use. Of course the flip side is you really can't sell the Joyo for anything on ebay where the OCD will bring almost as much money as you paid for it. So is it the Ultimate Drive or a cheap knockoff? At this price it's easy for you to decide.
This review was completely unsolicited, I received no compensation for it and all views and opinions are my own.

The Great Amp Debate in my ADHD Mind

I have a confession to make. I don't currently own a tube amp. I want one, but I can't make up my mind on what I even want or need. I sold my last Great Amp a couple of years ago. It sounded awesome and it was built like a tank. It was a Mesa Boogie Stiletto Deuce and I loved the sound of it. But I wasn't using it for anything. I wasn't in a band anymore, and it was LOUD, even when I knocked it down to 50 watts and switched on the built in Variac switch to knock off another 20 percent. Then I rewired my 4x12 cabinet to 2x12. It was still LOUD and had a ton of presence. I've owned Fender, Peavey, Marshall, Crate, and Mesa Boogie amps. I love the sound of a Les Paul through a Marshall. Last year I bought a Stratocaster and I've been exploring different sounds. Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour and even some country sounds. Clean sounds, with a little breakup and an overdrive pedal. I'm suffering from a common problem that the internet has made worse. Internet Information Overload causes something what I like to call Paralyses through Analysis. And for someone with ADHD I think its even worse. 

A few months ago I was reading an interview with Mike Piera from Analogman. He was talking about getting a pedal from a customer to fix and the inside looked like a computer. He couldn't fix it. This well known, very expensive pedal is now a door stop. His point was hand wired pedals are easy to fix. This got me thinking about boutique hand wired amps. There are a ton of them on the market, they sound great and if anything goes wrong any decent amp guy, or electronics guy for that matter, can fix it. So I started looking at some of the more popular manufacturers. Dr Z, Divided by 13, Fuchs, Shur, etc. I also looked at more obscure manufacturers like Valvetrain, and Samamp. I like that Valvetrain sources most if not all of his parts here in the USA. And Samamps built in VAC circuit would knock down the volume to reasonable levels when I'm playing at the house. Even Vox and Fender are getting into the game. So that should settle it, right?  

Recently in my research I stumbled upon this article on Bogner's site In which Andy Marshall of THD Electronics talks about using high end PC boards for consistency and also durability. I've also found this article on the Mesa Boogie site, where Randall Smith explains for similar reasons why they use PC Boards. He also talks about Point to point boards as subject to warping from moisture. They like to soldered parts that could break but use high quality PCB boards that will outlive most of us for areas that probably won't. Of course, it brings the price down too and that's always appealing to those of us who still have day jobs. Still, if something should ever happen I've got an expensive door stop. 

My mind goes back and forth, if I could afford them all I would buy one of each, but that's not an option right now in my life. I've always been impressed with Mesa Boogie and my guess is I might end up with the new Mini Rectifier or Transatlantic. Then again every year there are new amazing amps being put on the market, and I can't wait to see whats next.

Fender guitars IPO?

Leo Fender must be rolling over in his grave. Fender Guitars owns a lot of companies including Jackson, Charvel, and has a huge stake in the new EVH brand. They had sales of 700.6 Million last year but executives are sniffing for more money. By going public they are hoping to raise 200 million in capital, 100 million will be used to pay off debt. Remember in 1965 when they sold out to CBS. They kept producing high quality guitars for a few years but then bean counters at CBS made them look for cost cutting ways that hurt the quality of the guitars. Not to say you can't find a decent '70's Stratocaster but the best thing that happened to the company was when Fender Chief Executive William Schultz teamed up with some of the company's international distributors and bought out Fender in 1984. In my opinion, the quality of guitars that are coming out of the USA Fender shop are 1st rate. But there are a lot of boutique builders that are building better Strat style guitars for a better price than what you can get out of Fender's famed custom shop for twice the price. But whats going to happen as boutique companies get bigger and Fender now has to answer to stock holders? And by stock holders I mean fund managers.  The bean counters will start finding more ways to cut cost. If your thinking about buying a Fender custom shop guitar I'm gonna suggest doing it in the next couple of years. Or start researching boutique builders that source most of their parts from the USA. For more on the story read here. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/us-fender-ipo-idUSBRE8270M420120308